Peppers hotter in FL?

So This is something that has come up a few times, and I wanted to crowd source an opinion on it.

Some of the bhuts I sent out have blown people away, saying they are the hottest bhuts they've ever eaten (one guy said they were at least 4 times hotter).

Later I picked up a jar of superhot puree (from someone to the north of FL) - nagas, and 7pots if I remember right.

while its good, its not as spicy as the bhuts I have back home. I use the stuff (the puree) on everything, and its a good heat level, and I think I prefer it as I can use more and have the flavor be more present in whatever I'm making... But I digress.

So what do you guys think? More stress (due to the heat and rainfall?)? good genetics? or just lucky.

It's probably the heat. I dunno about the rain. The rain just makes my chiles split. The ghosts and etc. I grow are much hotter than ones I've bought dried and fresh. I'm in Virginia. I think we've all had an extra hot summer too.

Several factors will combine to determine the amount of heat a pepper has from the growing conditions to the genetics of the plant including such things as amount of stress on the plant - amount of water it is given during fruit production - age of the plant - number of days the pod is left to ripen - type of soil it is grown in - nutrients it is given - etc. - etc. - etc.

So there will always be differences in the heat level even if those peppers come off of the same exact plant at different times of the year which is why there is such controversy over which pepper is the world's hottest all of the time and each person you ask will tell you differently which type of pepper is hotter than another type.

Dulac said:

It's probably the heat. I dunno about the rain. The rain just makes my chiles split. The ghosts and etc. I grow are much hotter than ones I've bought dried and fresh. I'm in Virginia. I think we've all had an extra hot summer too.

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I was thinking that as well... I didn't have any split in the rain, but I did have some mottled colors. Ghosts come from a really hot rainy region... I'm guessing that perhaps FL is just a close proxy weather wise.